Carpenters Union votes against the big Banks

Last night at my union meeting there was a lot of anger at the bailout. Not a single member got up and echoed the corporate media's position that the Wall Street bailout was our only choice. We passed a motion in favor of nationalizing the banks, that their resources should establish a kind of Federal Savings Bank where workers could switch their privately held pensions into a safe-haven and that the funds of such a bank could be used for working people's real needs and for development harmonious with the environment.
I gave out about 25 copies of the Facts for Working People on it. Nobody complained about Karl Marx on the front. One sister pointed at the "Swindled" article on the front page and said, "that's me!" She explained how she was 3 months behind on her mortgage payments, in large part because when she got the loan the mortgage company didn't tell her that her taxes were not a part of the monthly payment. She so fell behind. She took 5 copies of Facts for Working People to give out.
When I spoke on the issue I argued that big business are okay with nationalizing losses, but not profits. I targeted Citibank and Bank of America who are cleaning up during this crisis and argued that they should be brought into public ownership. I argued that all the wealth that was ever created, all the value ever created, was from labor. Only labor adds value to things. As such, all capital is labor stolen from us and that the banks were sitting on our value, our capital and our money.
The motion passed by about 3 to 1, with about 60 or 70 workers in attendance.
Below is the motion/open letter. If anyone wants to do the same at their local, and wants help, just give me a call 510 220 3047.
Rob
Open Letter and Motion to be sent to Congress
To be sent to the 31 Carpenters Locals in the Northern California Regional Council
Passed by majority vote October 9th, 2008
Carpenters Local 713 opposes the current Federal Bailout as a massive handout to the big banks to cover their losses. The bailout does not help the 23 million Americans who are behind in the mortgages, nor the sick, the elderly, the poor, the unemployed or our children's schools.
Carpenters Local 713 goes on record as supporting the public ownership of the big banks and establishing a safehaven for workers' individual pensions, as well as a fund for a much needed program of environmentally-friendly public works, to meet the real needs of working class people and our communities and not the trust funds of the rich.